Category Archives: Kenya

‘Denying sanctuary’ or ‘draining the swamp’ is classic counter-insurgency strategy, which in Kenya also involves wildlife conservation as part of the ‘hearts and minds’ strategy. The Kenyan security ‘sweeps’ involve not only an escalating back-drop of brutality against indigenous Kenyans … Continue reading →

The three ‘C’s – commerce, colonialism and criminalisation of indigenous hunting – created the illegal poaching and smuggling networks in Kenya In the first blog on Kenya’s role in the international ivory trade, I concentrated on the current picture and … Continue reading →

Behind the ivory burning and fine words lies corruption and smuggling. (Part 1 of 2). By Professor Keith Somerville, author of recently published ‘Ivory: power and poaching in Africa’. On 30th April 2016, President Uhuru Kenyatta set fire to over … Continue reading →

‘Shoot-to-kill’ is part of a general criticism of ‘militarization’ in wildlife protection terms that the use of force is synonymous with coercion and violence, and also that ‘militarized’ counter-poaching can be prioritized to the detriment of community-based natural resource management … Continue reading →

By Dr Rosaleen Duffy, Professor of Political Ecology of Development, Department of Development Studies, SOAS, University of London. The Elephant Action League report (which claimed that Al Shabaab was heavily involved in ivory trading – please see previous blog-post) was … Continue reading →

Ivory does not fund Al Shabaab, so why was that message so readily promoted? By Dr Rosaleen Duffy, Professor of Political Ecology of Development, Department of Development Studies, SOAS, University of London Since 2013 several wildlife conservation organisations have promoted … Continue reading →

This post considers how board games can be used as enjoyable, interactive educational tools to teach key themes in topics such as wildlife conservation. Board games, war games and online games have been around for some time. While many of … Continue reading →

Human-wildlife conflict remains a significant problem in many parts of the world. Whether it be elephants trampling crops or lions and leopards killing livestock, many people are affected and it can be difficult to stop the problem. This in turn harms … Continue reading →

The recent meeting at Lancaster house to discuss the illegal wildlife trade, which brought together world leaders, conservationists and two future British Monarchs, has once again focused attention on the plight of many endangered species and the methods that should … Continue reading →

Militarism as an ideology that privileges military culture and values – including violence as an appropriate response to conflict – and that justifies the expansion of these values and culture into nominally civilian spheres. Militarization, on the other hand, is … Continue reading →